Local companies should be given priority in Russia’s Far East — Putin

NOVOBUREISKY SETTLEMENT, /Amur region/, August 3 /TASS/. The companies of Russia’s Far East should be given priority access to transport services in their region, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting on implementation of large investment projects in Russia’s Far East.

"Large scale investment program of Far East region should go together with the development of the region’s transport cluster. Here I mean first of all - BAM (The Baikal Amur mainline - TASS) and the Trans-Siberian mainline," Putin said.

The head of state noted that by 2020 the throughput capacity of those mainlines should grow by 66 million tonnes of cargo and more than 30 million tonnes of this volume should fall to the share of the shippers of the Far East.

"I want to stress it that Far Eastern companies should get priority access to transport services and have all the opportunities for full-fledged supply and export of their products," Putin said.

He also recalled that it had previously been assumed that Russian ministries and agencies would take into account the plans for the development of the Far East region when planning their work.

"We did not agree that ministries and departments would require some additional resources," Putin said.